Biodiversity is a complex concept incorporating genes, species, ecosystems, composition, structure and function. The global scientific and political community has recognized the importance of biodiversity for human well-being, and has set goals and targets for its conservation, sustainable use, and benefit sharing. Monitoring biodiversity will help meet conservation goals and targets, yet observations collected in-situ are limited in space and time, which may bias interpretations and hinder conservation. Remote sensing can provide complementary datasets for monitoring biodiversity that are spatially comprehensive and repeatable. However, further research is needed to demonstrate, for various spatial scales and regions, how remotely sensed datasets represent different aspects of biodiversity. The overall goal of this dissertation is to advance the mapping and monitoring of biodiversity indicators, globally and within Canada, through the use of remote sensing. This research produced maps that were rich with spatially explicit, spatially continuous data, filling gaps in the availability and spatial resolution or scalability of information regarding ecosystem function (primary productivity) at global scales, tree species composition at regional scales (Saskatchewan, Canada), and ecosystem structure at local scales (coastal British Columbia, Canada). Further, the remotely sensed indicator datasets proposed and tested in each of the research chapters are repeatable, ecologically meaningful, translate to specific biodiversity targets globally and within Canada, and are calculable at multiple spatial scales. Challenges and opportunities for fully implementing these or similar remotely sensed biodiversity indicators and indicator datasets at a national level in Canada are discussed, contributing to the advancement of biodiversity monitoring science. / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/6957 |
| Date | 18 December 2015 |
| Creators | Thompson, Shanley Dawn |
| Contributors | Nelson, Trisalyn |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/ |
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